Space Raiders Notebooks, 1978/1979

You remember Diener’s popular Space Raiders and Space Creatures erasers. What we’ve got here are a couple of notebooks in a series of 12 based on the Raiders designs. There were only eight Raiders, so I’m not sure what the other four notebooks covered. I can’t wait to find out.

What’s interesting about the notebooks is that (1) they provide a backstory for each Raider, (2) they tell us that “many models” of the erasers were sold individually at the time, and (3) the company that produced them bought the license from Diener the same year Diener unveiled their sci-fi line at the 1978 toy fair.

Thanks to James Agee for the reminder about these beauties. Please let me know if you remember having any, or if you see photos of others.

Someone on ebay recently sold some notebooks from this series. The 2 new characters were Draco and Alcor. Draco, it says is “the interpreter,” and Alcor is “the navigator.” Brak is the “supreme commander,” Dard is “the governor,” Zama is “the astronomer,” and as we know, Horta is “the enforcer.”

Hi there, did you happen to save those photos from eBay? I would love to know what the other two Raiders look like. I have two Diener figures that look like they belong with the Space Raiders set, but are never listed with them. Here they are: https://www.flickr.com/photos/littleweirdos/16264929523/

I remember this series. The 12 notebook series includes the original 8 erasers (4 characters and 4 craft), plus 2 more characters and 2 more craft (Propus 1 bomber/troop carrier, and Theta 6 fighter). One of the characters looked like R2-D2 with a grin.

I haven’t seen the illustrations of Draco or Alcor, but — in reference to this photograph (https://www.flickr.com/photos/littleweirdos/16264929523/) — I speculated about whether those two figures are Draco and Alcor. If so, I further speculated about whether or not Draco and Alcor were knockoffs of C-3PO and R2-D2…

Bobby says that “One of the [two new] characters looked like R2-D2 with a grin.” That might possibly be a reference to the shorter of these two sculpts, which does indeed have a a row of bumps resembling a smile where it’s mouth would be if it were human.

In addition to that reference to R2-D2, Bobby also says “Draco, it says is ‘the interpreter,’ and Alcor is ‘the navigator.'” Could that be a reference to a protocol droid and an astromech droid, repsectively? Quite possibly. If so, then these might well be knockoffs of C-3PO and R2-D2. A protocol droid who’s fluent in over six million forms of communication would be especially likely to serve as a translator, which C-3PO often did.

The original Star Wars came out in 1977, and these notebooks came out in 1978 — the timing of which makes them especially likely to include Star Wars knockoffs.

I may have been here before, and didn’t remember it: “Thanks to James Agee for the reminder about these beauties. Please let me know if you remember having any, or if you see photos of others.” I’m still looking for a Theta 6, pretty sure there wasn’t an eraser of one, but I’d like the notebook cover again, to ease my mind. Thanks!